(as for California and New york it seems)Our goal is to invest on rental properties (we can't flip from France) with very low expenses in a safe area.

However, they will calculate a new DTI (debit to income ratio) based on the new monthly payments from your cash out refi or HELOC loan.Some quick pros and cons about Cash out Refi vsHELOCCash out Pros-tax free money-low interest rate-no monthly payments Cash out Cons-closing costs (couple thousand)HELOC Pros-tax free -its a line of credit, hence you can use pay back then use again-usually NO closing costsHeloc Cons-higher interest rate-have to make monthly payments on money borrowedHope this helps,CB

Below are some quick tips about cash out refi vs HELOC/LOCCash out Pros-tax free money-low interest rate-fixed monthly payments unless you choose a variable productCash out Cons-closing costs (couple thousand)HELOC/LOC Pros-tax free -its a line of credit, hence you can use pay back then use again-usually NO closing costs on residential Helocs; there will be closing costs on commericial LOCs-commericial LOC is very fast moving as far as getting funding and refinancing  (Makes it easy to rinse and repeat)HELOC/LOC Cons-higher interest rate-variable rates-monthly payments depend on amount borrowedHope this helps,CB

You can get in with a low down payment and good terms by living in the property.  

https://www.airdna.co/region/us/north-carolinaThis site has a lot of info too:  http://www.rented.com/ultimateguide/This one has a calculator to estimate income - I was surprised at low occupancy (28% for Blowing Rock/Boone vs. about 70% in Florida)...  

Though the city needs a lot of work in terms of crime and school, there aren't too many small/mid size cities with the arts, food, nightlife, access to suburbs, lakes, wine region, etc. that Rochester has while having extremely low taxes. 

Properties within 1-2 miles of each other will get different tenants, have different tax rates, be in very different neighborhood classes that are experiencing very different levels of investment and development. 

Both have great rental histories, are located in very good neighborhoods and very low vacancy.  

My assumption is I'll need to invest out of this area, as cap rates around Palo Alto are very low.

Comfort level of risk comes into play as well, but has anyone crunched any numbers to determine what's the best path long term?